Brown, boiled sugar
Brown, boiled sugar is a classic Old Believer treat from the shores of Lake Peipsi. This sugar is used to drink tea, but it is also good for just being sweet. Some sources claim that boiling sugar in this way purifies it, but let’s not get into the historical assumptions about how this type of sugar was made. It is sugar boiled with milk or cream for a long time until the liquid evaporates, and when the sugar mixture cools, it solidifies and can be broken into pieces. As far as I found sources about this sugar, it seems that every family had its own way of making it. Some use milk and a little butter, others a mixture of cream and milk. According to some instructions, a little egg is also added to the sugar. I discussed the preparation with Marina Grigorova, a local from Kasepää, and I decided to make this sugar by boiling the sugar and milk together, adding a little butter. The result was a relatively authentic-looking sugar; perhaps it could have been a little lighter, but it tasted good and was also approved by the Old Believers. If you want to take on this task, here is the guide. You need to have plenty of time and patience for it.
Preparation time: 2.5 hours
Level: Rather easy
Quantity: about 1.3 to 1.4 kg of boiled sugar
Ingredients:
1 kg of white sugar
800 ml of milk
50 g of butter
Preparation:
- Pour the sugar and milk into a thick-bottomed saucepan, stir, and let it boil over medium heat.
- Boil, stirring occasionally so that the mixture does not burn at the bottom every few minutes.
- After about an hour, add the butter and continue stirring. The sugar will gradually change. If it looks like thin, sweet milk at first, over time it will start to turn more yellowish and will start to bubble as it rises to the top. At this time, you can also lower the temperature so that the mixture does not boil over, but lowering the temperature also slows down the evaporation of the liquid and the ripening of the sugar.
- At some point, stirring will become more difficult, and the mixture will become sticky, which indicates that the sugar is starting to ripen.
- Grease two plates with butter and pour the brown sugar mass onto the plate, and leave to set. The sugar is right when it does not stretch when broken, but breaks, leaving sharp edges. You can cut the sugar into pieces to eat with a knife, but it would be better to use special sugar tongs like the ones you see in the picture.
- Make tea, pour hot tea into a saucer, put a sugar cube in your mouth, sip the tea, and imagine yourself in a peaceful, friendly company by Lake Peipsi.
Ready!!
